ADELAIDE great Mark Ricciuto has called on the AFL to channel funds into its traditional heartland as debate about the Collective Bargaining Agreement heats up.

Ricciuto, who was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame on Thursday night, used the end of his speech to highlight the plight of his former junior football league the Mid-Murray in the Riverland region of South Australia.

"Although it is great to see the Gold Coast and GWS, I just hope that with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that is being done that we put as much effort, resources and brain power into the traditional football states to make sure we don't lose players like myself or Brad Helbig at Richmond who grew up at Ramco," Ricciuto said.

"We need to make sure we don't lose clubs like Morgan or Caddell and make sure they stay strong as much as we can."

Ricciuto said football was the heart and soul of many towns in the South Australian Riverland.

"I know you can't throw money in the wrong places but those towns that don't have footy clubs aren't the same town once the footy clubs are gone," he said.

The AFL recently received $1.25 billion in the latest TV rights deal and has played a significant role in funding Gold Coast and GWS.

But Ricciuto stressed that he fully supported the AFL's branch into new territory.

He said the Suns were one of his favourite teams to watch and he understood why the AFL wanted to go into south east Queensland and greater western Sydney, but believed that looking after small AFL towns was just as important as pioneering new regions.